Researcher at NORCE, Pål Puntervoll, and Professor at the Department of Global Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, UiB, Halvor Sommerfelt. Credit: Paul André Sommerfeldt
Research led by the University of Bergen (UiB) and NORCE may help pave the way for a new vaccine targeting one of the world's leading causes of severe diarrheal disease. The technology has now been licensed to the international vaccine company Valneva, which will take the work forward toward a potential future vaccine.
"This is an important milestone for the research we have carried out with international partners over many years. The licensing agreement shows that our results have strong potential and are considered highly relevant for continued vaccine development," says Professor Halvor Sommerfelt at the Faculty of Medicine, UiB.
The research is the result of an international collaboration involving UiB, NORCE, Institut Pasteur, the Indian Institute of Science, Tulane University and South Dakota State University. The agreement with Valneva was facilitated by VIS (Vestlandets Innovasjonsselskap), which manages the commercial rights to the technology on behalf of the research institutions.
The goal is to develop a vaccine against enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC), a bacterium responsible for millions of diarrheal cases each year. The disease disproportionately affects children in low- and middle-income countries, where severe intestinal infections can have long-term consequences for health and development.
